[Thomas Rey]

Hi guys,

I am bowhunting for 4 years and I would like to upgrade my Bowtech Assassin for an Experience or an Rpm 360. I am from Mauritius Island and unfortunately there is no dealer here, so I cannot try them. I need to buy them online.

I usually hunt deer and wild boars and my Assassin is set at DW 58 lbs and DL 28”.

I will buy 60-70 lbs cam for my new bow and probably set the DW at around 63-65 lbs with a DL of 28”.

The speed of the bow is not a problem for me as both of them are fast. And I heard that the IBO of the Experience is underrated (8-10 fps more) and the one of the RPM is overrated (5-10 fps less).

I am looking for a smooth draw length, a hard back wall and specially an accurate bow. From your experiences, which one is the most forgiveness and most accurate?

Can you also comment on the vibrations and noise from these 2 bows please?


Your advice will be very appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Thomas

 

[Lil fat guy]

I like the Experience. To me its the perfect blend of smoothness and speed. The Experience also balances well in the hand. The rpm felt a little top heavy to me, when holding the bare bow it wanted to fall forward; the Experience just sits there. The Experience also has an inch more brace height which should make it a little more forgiving. With that said the rpm is still a nice bow. For a speed bow it has a really smooth draw cycle, but if you don't care about getting a few extra fps I see no reason to get it over an Experience. I didn't shoot the rpm enough to compare vibration and noise, but both seemed pretty quiet to me. I think between those two it really comes down to speed as that's the main advantage the rpm has over the Experience.

 

[Bowpro-295]

I love my experience

wouldn't trade it for anything they make fast smooth

 

[winmag458]

RPM and Experience were both highly touted bows, I shoot the RPM for the extra speed. Any reason you are not interested in the Prodigy?

 

[Sakie8015]

I've only shot the RPM, and I can tell you that it is all those things you are looking for. At 28" draw, it is going to be a buttery smooth draw cycle, has a firm back wall with factory stops (or can be increased with the Bomar Draw stops), and is deadly accurate.
Considering you're probably never going to be wearing a down jacket out there on the island, I wouldn't worry too much about the 6" brace height on the RPM.

As far as vibration, there is a very slight residual buzz after the shot if shooting without a stabilizer, but there is zero kick off the shot. The bow is dead in your hand at release. If you put any sort of stabilizer on, you will feel nothing.
With regard to noise... this bow is ridiculously quiet, even with a factory string stop. This bow has a lot less of that Bowtech "thud" we've all come to know. If you were to add any sort of dampening, you will hardly hear anything. I'm a huge fan of Bowjax... but even before I put them on, this bow was stealthy for sure.

I agree that the RPM is a bit of a top heavy bow, but I like it. At full draw, the bow balances out nicely and holds steady. I'm shooting at 60#, 28"... my arrows are averaging out between 360-365gr and they are coming in right at 300 fps... But that is with my own limited set up. It's never been professionally tuned or anything, so I'm sure there is more juice that can be squeezed. One thing that I can tell you from my limited tweaking with this bow, is that it is VERY responsive to tuning.

Either one is going to be a great choice, but I like the RPM for that extra speed without having to pull the extra weight to get it.

 

[Out West]

I don't recall shooting the Experience, but I'm sure it is a very nice bow. The RPM has a crazy smooth draw for a "speed" bow. It is very smooth all the way back. I'm not a huge fan of the fatter grip on the RPM, but it is okay. If it was a little thinner like my Prodigy, then it would be nice. Although you have options with the RPM grip. You can either get a Torqueless one piece grip, or shoot Torqueless/Rattler side plates if you like that better. The wall is surprisingly solid for cable stops, but I added Bomar stops for a super solid wall (almost limb stop like). You can get them directly from Bomar for like $28.50 shipped (although, I don't know what your shipping would be). The RPM is top heavy, but seems to be fine when shooting. Nice thing about either the RPM or Experience is you can play with the module/draw stop to get the valley you want too. My RPM is very quiet, although it has a slight bit of vibration. But that is killed when I install a stabilizer. You may consider the Prodigy as well, although a little more pricey since it is brand new. They are very nice bows too. I don't think you could go wrong with either of them. The Prodigy does have a lot nicer finish than either the RPM or Experience.

 

[carcus]

Love my rpm, smooth, quiet, love my experience to, its smooth but not as smooth as the rpm, I use the rpm as my elk and moose hunting bow then switch to the experience thats 10 lbs less and 1" more BH for late season whitetails.

 

[bmwlife1976]

I recently sold my rpm360 for one reason only. It is not a foregiving bow at all. However. It was the fastest, quietest, smoothest bow I have ever shot. Cons. Grip is not comfortable, as mentioned by others, it is top heavy, and does want to creep on you if you are not used to shooting a speed bow. Something you mentioned was you were gonna get 70lb limbs and set them around 63 to 65 lbs. I would recommend buying 60lb limbs and turning them all the way up. My rpm was 60lb limbs and they were maxed out at 63.8 lbs. I am currently looking to buy an experience as it has a 7" brace height with all the accomidations of the rpm360. I hope this helps

 

[rigginuts]

The rpm's are awesome bows. super quite, fast and smooth. I have an rpm 60/70 for sale in the AT classifieds if your interested. You won't be sorry. I'm looking for a 50/60 for myself, the 60/70 is just to much for me.

 

[Out West]

I recently sold my rpm360 for one reason only. It is not a foregiving bow at all. However. It was the fastest, quietest, smoothest bow I have ever shot. Cons. Grip is not comfortable, as mentioned by others, it is top heavy, and does want to creep on you if you are not used to shooting a speed bow. Something you mentioned was you were gonna get 70lb limbs and set them around 63 to 65 lbs. I would recommend buying 60lb limbs and turning them all the way up. My rpm was 60lb limbs and they were maxed out at 63.8 lbs. I am currently looking to buy an experience as it has a 7" brace height with all the accomidations of the rpm360. I hope this helps

Set your mod one short of your draw stop, and the creep will be gone. It will give you a very nice valley. I've shot mine in stock form at 29" draw and the valley was pretty good considering it is a speed bow. Never really felt like it wanted to take off on me, but not as large a valley as what I'm used too. I set the stops one short of the draw stops and switched to Bomar stops. The wall is super solid and the valley is very comfortable. You will lose some speed doing this, but it makes the bow very "comfortable" if that is the feel you like.

 

[bmwlife1976]

I did that and you are right. It made the back wall much more solid. However, the 6" brace height I just could not get used to no matter how much I shot it. My groups would fall apart at 40yds and out . Bought a different bow to get me through the season with a 7" brace height and seen an immediate improvement in my accuracy . I think the experience is the way to go with 60lb limbs and maybe do the same amd set your mod one short of your draw stop.

 

[Squirrel]

I have had all three. I bought an Assassin new in 2012 and liked it a lot. I shot it until summer 2014. I gave it to my nephew and bought a used 2013 Experience because I wanted to try something new. I liked the Experience but never loved it. Part of that was the draw weight (higher than normal for me) but I was not as quiet as I expected either. I sold it after 4 months and bought a new RPM 360. I feel like the RPM is smoother and quieter. I really enjoy shooting this bow.

 

[carcus]

My speed bow before the rpm was a darton ds3800 which it advertised as a speed bow with manners, my rpm has better manners, and about the same speed.

 

[Thomas Rey]

Thank you very much for the reviews. It is very interesting.

However I am still undecided on which one to choose but my heart goes to the Experience for the moment. As I am not going to shoot big animals like an elk or a moose. I will be shooting deer and wild boars and most of my shooting is between 15 to 30 yards.

I would like some advise regarding the limbs poundage:

Is it better to buy a bow with 50-60 lbs limbs and set the draw weight to the max (I will probably achieve a little bit more than 60, ie 62lbs)?
Or is it the same to buy a bow with 60-70 lbs limbs and set it to 63-65lbs?

Looking forward for your replies.

Thank you.

 

[Sakie8015]

I would recommend getting the 60# limbs and maxing them out. If you need a few extra pounds, you can always add a couple twists to the strings/cables.
I don't know how much difference it REALLY makes as I've never experimented with it myself. But the general consensus in the archery community is that bows perform best at their max/peak settings.

For me, it seems it would just be easier to max out the limb bolts and not have to think about it again. One less variable out of your set-up is always a good thing.

 

[Thomas Rey]

Thanks.

However would like to ask you a question regarding how to max out your limbs.
How far does your limb bolt can go through the inspection hole? In the manual it says to not black out the limb hole. However if for instance your limb bolt just black (say like 1mm) the inspection hole, it is safe?

 

[bow tech user]

Here's 40 yards with the rpm

 

[Frederick D. Be]

Both are nice. The rpm will come in about 8 fps slower than IBO rating but who cares when it draws as smooth as it does. And, it is whisper quiet...tack driver. The experience is a great all around bow that has a 7 inch bh which is good for heavy clothing when hunting. The shot is very close to the rpm but it is a tad noisier.....both are extremely quiet. The experience is slightly under rated for IBO...I saw an additional 3 fps on mine. There is another bow that deserves some attention as well...the Prodigy. I have both the 360 and the experience...am keeping the experience and replacing the 360 with the Prodigy. I do believe that is a great bow and will find out very soon. But, you will not go wrong with either of the two you mentioned. Enjoy!
Fred

 

[Bowtech_RPM_360]

As stated by others, they are both nice bows. Both shoot flat as heck and are very accurate...

 

[psychobaby111]

I have.a 50# rpm that I love to shoot and will not sell. Now with that said I would love to have a experience super sweet bow.